Deviance From the Norm
by Xixie
Summary: Basically it's a T/N story with a plot. Trinity finds out something the machines are planning. She calls another ship to help. One of her exes is on the ship. Hilarity ensues. Well, not so much hilarity as action driven plot, but hey. Romance!!!
1. Lost in the Matrix

This is my first Matrix fanfiction. I always wondered why there weren't more of them.  
  
Especially about Trinity and Neo. They seem ripe for the fanfic pickings. But anyway. Here it  
  
is. Let me know if you like it. I promise to not fall into the Matrix fiction sand trap of becoming  
  
so enamored of my original characters that I forget entirely about the canonical characters. This  
  
is all about Trinity and Neo, baby! And Morpheus, cause I like him. And Tank. And I really  
  
wish Switch hadn't died, cause she was way hot, don't cha think? But I digress.  
Xixie  
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em. Don't want to. Couldn't possibly do them justice.  
Deviance from the Norm  
Neo paced the floor of the safe house for about the hundredth time in five minutes.  
"Honestly Neo. She's a lot more capable of handling herself than any other person we  
  
have. Sit down." Dust rolled his eyes at his superior officer. She jerked her head, indicating he  
  
should join her in the other room.  
  
Neo watched as the two disappeared into a library. He and Trinity had met up with Dust  
  
and E5elyn in the Matrix for a joint mission. Usually Resistance members on separate ships did  
  
not work together in the Matrix, but as the Neb's complement had been seriously cut because of  
  
Cypher's betrayal, the crew of the Deviance was called in to assist. Unfortunately, the  
  
admittedly tricky job of connecting a new hard line had been interrupted by a pair of very lucky  
  
Agents. The four had split up, each knowing to reconvene at the nearest safe house as soon as  
  
they were out of harm's way. After half an hour, Trinity had yet to return. She had not checked  
  
in with Tank and Neo was beside himself.  
  
*****  
  
"Jesus. Will you look at the guy?"  
  
E5elyn looked around her tall counterpart and smiled. "He's got it bad."  
Dust nodded. "They all do. As soon as their eyes adjust to the real world. Every  
  
male to wake up on the Neb has fallen hard for her."  
  
"It'd be cute if I didn't know how much it annoyed her. I really didn't think  
  
Cypher was going to make it through."  
  
The two paused to reflect on Cypher's actions. Dust changed the subject.  
  
"Well, it hasn't been that long in the grand scheme of things. We don't need to  
  
worry for at least another hour."  
  
E5elyn nodded. "I'm going to go talk to him."  
  
******  
  
As she entered the room, E5elyn's eyes narrowed. "What the hell are you  
  
doing?"  
  
"I'm going to look for Trinity."  
  
"The hell you are. You're going to sit right here and in no way compromise this  
  
safe house. Trinity is a big girl and we know that the two Agents followed you and Dust,  
  
respectively. So she'll be along shortly. Thirty minutes is nothing."  
  
"I can find her."  
  
"Who do you think you are? You've only been unplugged for, what, 4 months?  
  
I'm your superior and I'm telling you to sit down before I make you."  
  
Neo looked as if he wanted to say something. However, in the back of his mind  
  
he knew that half an hour wasn't a worry worthy amount of time. He also knew that  
  
Morpheus thought it important that noone know his identity as the One until they could  
  
get back to Zion and meet with the Council. So he sat.  
  
"Thank you." E5elyn walked back into the library. "He's sitting. I don't know  
  
what he's expecting to do. Fly around and find her?"  
  
"I can already tell. Trinity's gotta be ready to kill this one. He hovers."  
  
"He'll learn. He's still got that Matrix chivalry thing going for him. He wants to  
  
protect her. When she's far more capable of protecting his newbie ass."  
  
Neo chose that moment to come into the library. "If I can't look for her, then the  
  
least you could do is let me call Tank and see if she's checked in."  
  
E5elyn and Dust exchanged a look. "Feel free. I can't really stop you anyway."  
  
Neo's eyes narrowed, but he only opened his phone. "Tank. Have you heard  
  
from her?" A pause. "Damn. Okay." Click.  
  
"She hasn't checked in. I'm going to go look out the back entrance."  
  
"Do that." E5elyn supplied dryly.  
  
The second Neo made it out of sight, the front door opened. Trinity entered  
  
looking slightly mussed and bleeding from an insubstantial knife wound to her left  
  
forearm. She glanced perfunctorily at E5elyn and Dust before demanding, "Where's  
  
Neo?"  
  
"Trinity. Are you okay? What happened?" Dust asked.  
  
"There was an accident. Where's Neo?"  
  
E5elyn laughed. "Don't worry. He's around."  
  
"Around where? I didn't see him get away from the Agents and I lost my phone,  
  
couldn't call the Operator."  
  
Dust opened his mouth to tell her exactly where her wayward charge was when he  
  
entered the room.  
  
Neo paused for less than a second at the sight of her, taking time to say "You're  
  
bleeding." He then moved towards her purposely. Trinity relaxed visibly and moved  
  
down the stairs quickly to meet him in the middle of the floor. This was the first time  
  
they had been separated during a mission, since the whole Neo dying incident. Trinity  
  
had been as frantic as Trinity could possibly get. Which, granted, wasn't that frantic, but  
  
still. She had managed to run into an Agent who sliced her arm and made her drop her  
  
phone.  
  
Neo wrapped one arm around Trinity's waist and pulled her straight into him.  
  
Their kiss was not chaste, gentle, or romantic. Trinity had been reliving the moment of  
  
Neo's death since she had lost sight of him. Neo had been imaging horrible things since  
  
the same time. When they finally pulled apart, Trinity wrapped her right arm around  
  
Neo's neck and whispered, "I thought you were. . . well, I was worried."  
  
Neo smiled, his face inches from hers. "I've been annoying your friends. What  
  
happened?"  
  
Trinity sighed and pulled back. "That's actually important. Everyone should hear  
  
this. Especially Morpheus." Turning to E5elyn and Dust, she didn't move away from  
  
Neo. "We need to rendevous with the Deviance. How far is your ship from the Neb?"  
  
E5elyn looked from Trinity to Neo, but answered immediately. "About two days,  
  
less if we can avoid any complications."  
  
Trinity nodded. Neo moved slightly to his right, ministering to her arm. "Ouch.  
  
Damn it."  
  
"Sorry, baby." Trinity smiled at the pet name. She had originally railed against  
  
it, on principle, but he hardly ever used it. And it made her feel so normal.  
  
"Tank will look at it. We have to get back to the ship." She looked into his eyes.  
  
"You go first."  
  
Neo nodded. The receiver fell to the floor as his consciousness was removed  
  
from the Matrix.  
  
Trinity replaced it. As the phone began to ring again, E5elyn covered it with her  
  
hand. "What was that? Baby."  
  
Trinity smiled. "It's a long story. And I think you should hear it in person."  
  
With that, she pushed the receiver to her ear.  
  
E5elyn contacted her Operator, waiting for him to connect to the hardline, so that  
  
they could return to their own ship.  
  
Dust raised his eyebrows. "Looks like we misjudged Trin's reaction."  
  
"Never thought it would happen." The phone rang.  
  
Dust picked it up. "Wait until Pusher finds out." He pressed his ear against the  
digital representation of plastic and disappeared. E5elyn replaced the receiver yet again.  
"Yeah. I know." 


	2. Back on the Neb

Chapter Two: Tell me what you think. It's very late. And I'm dead sober. So you  
  
know. It could go either way.  
  
Xixie  
Tank tried to bandage Trinity's arm, but Neo kept getting in the way. Usually he'd have  
  
looked to Trin to tell him to scram, but she seemed as anxious to have him on hand. Not  
  
that Tank didn't understand. Watching Neo die hadn't been easy on any of them. He  
  
guessed Trinity deserved to keep him in sight for a while. If you really thought about it,  
  
the two hadn't been out of actual contact with one another since it happened. Not in the  
  
Matrix, and on the ship, well it wasn't that big a ship. They were pretty much always in  
  
yelling range. So Tank tolerated the fact that Neo insisted on looking over his shoulder,  
  
and the fact that Trinity kept pulling Neo over to her side just as Tank was about to stitch  
  
or tape or wipe.  
  
Morpheus looked in on them just as Tank finished. "Trinity. I need to speak with you."  
  
Trinity stood, grabbing Neo's hand. They joined Morpheus on the bridge. He glanced at  
  
their hands, noting silently that he hadn't asked for Neo, but let it go. "Why is the  
  
Deviance on its way here?"  
  
Trinity took a breath. "I found something out when we were out of contact." Dropping  
  
Neo's hand, she sat in the pilot's chair next to Morpheus. "I was using my phone to  
  
program the hard line. When we were interrupted by the agents, it was still connected.  
  
As soon as I got away, I tried to call Tank, but I was still plugged into the machines  
  
system, the phone was. They were talking. I listened to two agents-a male and a  
  
female." Morpheus looked surprised at this. They had never come across a female agent  
  
before. "Exactly. They were discussing a new type of agent. One specifically designed  
  
to find Neo."  
  
Morpheus interrupted. "They called him by name?"  
  
"No. They called him the human who killed Smith. The woman about to say  
  
more, but they had traced me. An agent took over a kid on a bike and attacked me. He  
  
sliced me with a piece of metal just as I ran by. Just before I dropped the phone, the  
  
woman spoke about a human prophecy. I think the agents know about our search for the  
  
One."  
  
Morpheus thought before speaking. "Why did you tell the Deviance to rendezvous  
  
without speaking to me first?"  
  
Trinity looked straight at her commander. "I knew how difficult it would be to establish  
  
contact once we were on the ship. The agents know about Neo. They know what he  
  
looks like and what he can do. They have created something specifically designed to kill  
  
him. We need to know what that is. They have people who are very good at getting into  
  
the Matrix and ferreting out information. I want them to do that."  
  
"Pusher."  
  
"Yes."  
  
Neo had been silent for this exchange. "Why can't I go in and look for the information?  
  
I can read the code directly. All I have to do is find one of the new Agents."  
  
Trinity answered. "You can't do it, because you aren't going back in until we figure this  
  
out."  
  
"What? That's ridiculous. I'm more capable than anyone of taking care of myself."  
  
"I know. But we don't know what this new thing is. And I don't want you to put  
  
yourself in unnecessary danger."  
  
"Trinity--"  
  
"That's it Neo. You're out."  
  
Neo was silent for about five seconds. "If I'm out, you're out."  
  
"What? No."  
  
Before Neo could respond, Morpheus interrupted. "Okay. Both of you. The Deviance is  
  
on its way. We have no reason to enter the Matrix until they get here anyway. So this is  
  
a non-issue. I don't want arguing."  
  
Although Morpheus held no illusions as to their not arguing. Of the four months Neo had  
  
been on board, the two had been together for three and a half. And they fought all the  
  
time. Morpheus didn't say anything. Partly because they seemed to enjoy it and always  
  
made up before nightfall. Partly because the one time he tried to mediate the pair had  
  
turned on him. He didn't particularly enjoy his first officer telling him to mind his own  
  
business in less than polite words.  
  
"Neo. I'd like to talk to Trinity privately." It was obvious neither wanted get too far  
  
from the other, but Morpheus' tone brooked no argument. "I'll send her right to you in a  
  
minute."  
  
Neo looked at Trinity, but moved through the bridge and headed for his cabin.  
  
"You're bringing Pusher here, purposely?"  
  
"He's the best. Next to Neo. We can trust everyone on that ship. And Pusher and I are  
  
fine now."  
  
"Will he be fine about Neo though?"  
  
"He'll have to be when he finds out that he's the One."  
  
Morpheus looked thoughtful for a moment. "Okay, Trinity."  
  
"I'm going to go find Neo."  
  
Morpheus looked at his first officer. Five months ago she would have rather died than  
  
admit she needed someone. Now she wanted Neo in almost constant sight. Not that Neo  
  
was any better, and Morpheus understood. Neo was like a child in the Matrix. He knew  
  
the fear that all Resistance fighters had, only peripherally. The fear was what generally  
  
kept you alive. Neo had other means, but they weren't fully developed and Trinity feared  
  
for him. Morpheus held the same fear. Pusher was the best shot. At least Trinity had  
  
heard the Agents talking. If any other Resistance members had overheard the  
  
conversation, they would have contacted Zion perhaps, but nothing would have been  
  
done. Morpheus nodded. "Go find Neo. We'll be seeing the Deviance tomorrow about  
  
this time."  
  
Trinity stood.  
  
"Oh, and Trinity. Maybe you should tell Neo about Pusher before he gets here."  
  
Trinity sighed. "Yeah. I'm about to." 


	3. Who's this Pusher guy, anyway?

Damn. I'm just popping 'em out tonight, aren't I? Well, maybe they're bad quality, but hey, I was reading Mighty Ducks slash fiction earlier. I'm hurting for something to do.  
  
Xixie (aka: she who should be writing that paper about Lolita and sexual identity confusion)  
Neo was found in the cabin he and Trinity shared. Ostensibly hers, as officially he still had his own down the hall. But they slept in hers, and really only used his when the duct on the other side of Trinity's wall clacked.  
  
"Neo."  
  
"Hey."  
  
"I'm sorry that I ordered you out of the Matrix like that. I should have just explained."  
  
"It's okay. I understand. You know. If it were you."  
  
"We have to talk."  
  
Neo looked up at her from where he sat on their bed. "Okay."  
  
Trinity pulled the chair from the corner and sat in front of him. "The people that are coming are old friends of mine."  
  
Neo smiled. "Yeah? Could you tell them that I'm not usually that manic. I was just worried about you. I thought E5elyn was going to hit me."  
  
"She might have. But I'm sure they understand. Um, the guy who's coming to help, Pusher, he's really good at what he does. If we can keep the Agents off him for long enough, he'll be able to find what we need."  
  
Neo nodded.  
  
"He and I, Pusher and I, we used to be together. In a way."  
  
Neo didn't speak for a moment. "In a way?"  
  
"We had a relationship, years ago, when I was first unplugged. We had a self destruction, physical thing."  
  
"Okay."  
  
Trinity looked confused. "Okay?"  
  
"Yeah. Okay. Trinity. You are the most beautiful woman I've ever met in my life. I'd be stupid to think that you had never been in a relationship before. It's fine. You don't have to worry about me being stupid. I didn't think you were dead before you met me."  
  
Trinity looked into his eyes for nearly a full minute. "I was, you know."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Dead before I met you."  
  
Neo didn't say anything, but they didn't show up for dinner that night. 


	4. He's the One No, really

Okay. Now I'm getting hokey and out of character. Well, I do think that Trinity would want to protect Neo. And I do think that they'd be all over each other. I mean. Neo's very attractive. And Trinity. Well. So, let me know what you think. It would make me happy. And as I have three major papers, two presentations, and an oral report due in the next three weeks, I need some happiness.  
  
If this sucks, it's because it's 4:11 am here, and I'm tired.  
  
Xixie (aka: She who should be home and in bed snuggling with the cat)  
  
The Deviance docked with the Nebuchadnezzar late the next evening. The Captain, Fencer, a Zion born man, and a good friend of Morpheus' entered first. The two embraced. "You invited us. You better have some food ready."  
  
Morpheus laughed. "It's very good to see you again, old friend."  
  
Fencer nodded, gripping both Morpheus' arms. "I am glad to see you alive." He glanced around. "You seem to have the place in remarkable order, considering."  
  
Morpheus acknowledged the rebuild with a nod. "We would have wished to spend our time elsewhere, but we make do."  
  
Fencer gazed at his friend respectfully. "E5elyn tells me that you have a new crew member. She wouldn't say much. Just that I would like to meet him."  
  
"This is probably more true than she realizes."  
  
Fencer waited for further explanation, but when realizing none were forthcoming, signaled his crew to come aboard.  
  
Trinity, Tank, and Neo stood behind Morpheus waiting for the visitors. E5elyn and Dust entered first, smiling at Trinity and then Neo. Then came the youngest member of their crew, Etrusca, a tiny black hair girl. Finally, a tall man with brown hair entered. His eyes immediately landed on Trinity, who nodded in recognition.  
  
Morpheus moved over to his officers. Gesturing towards Neo, "This is our last requisition. Neo. And this is Fencer, E5elyn and Dust you know. The girl is Etrusca and this is Pusher."  
  
Neo nodded hello.  
  
"I believe" continued Morpheus, "that we should take this into the mess. We can all sit down and I'll explain."  
  
As the entire group moved off to the kitchen area, E5elyn made her way over to Trinity. "I didn't tell him about Neo. He doesn't know."  
  
"We've not been together for years now. I don't think he's going to have any issues."  
  
E5elyn patted Trinity's back and moved away but didn't agree.  
  
In the back of the mess hall was a large sitting area, replete with uncomfortable sofa-esque things. The nine sat down, and Morpheus began his story.  
  
"I suppose you have all noted Neo's advanced age. At least for initial unplugging." The group nodded. It had, indeed, been most everyone's first thought.  
  
"The reason I unplugged Neo so late was because I believed him to be the One."  
  
At this everyone stared at Morpheus and then Neo. Uncomfortable with the scrutiny, Neo looked to Trinity. She smiled and looked back at Morpheus.  
  
"In an effort to protect him from Agents, I was captured."  
  
This elicited a response from everyone from the Deviance. "What?" "By agents?" "How are you not dead?"  
  
"This was during Cypher's. . . last contact with the agents. Tank was able to stop him and pull Trinity and Neo out. They, in turn, reentered the Matrix, attacked the building where the Agents were holding me. They rescued me before the Agents could retrieve Zion's codes. Trinity and I were able to get to a hard line. Neo was unable to leave. He was attacked by an Agent."  
  
Trinity did not like to relive this part of the story. The deaths of her friends, Cypher's deception, and Morpheus' capture were bad enough. She did not like to think about how close she had come to losing Neo.  
  
Neo noticed Trinity's mood change and took her hand, pulling it into his lap. They locked eyes and Trinity shifted slightly closer to Neo. Finally, they turned their attention back to Morpheus.  
  
The crew of the Deviance had not missed the interaction, however. While Dust and E5elyn were unsurprised, Fencer was shocked. This was unexpected, to say the least. He looked over to Pusher. The hacker had definitely noticed. He seemed completely relaxed, but those who knew him well, Fencer, Dust, E5elyn, and Trinity, had she cared to look, knew that he was upset by the development.  
  
He and Trinity had a tempestuous relationship seven years before. They had been young, she had risen through the ranks faster than him. Pusher had once worked on the Neb. When it became obvious that he was in love with her, Trinity had tried to end it. Pusher had ultimately been transferred to another ship. Trinity had told him that she could never love anyone. That the Oracle had told her and it was true. She had obviously lied.  
  
"Neo was shot by Agent Smith."  
  
Once again the group stared at him. "He's not exactly dead, Morpheus."  
  
"Not anymore, Fencer. He died. Trinity called him back. He stopped a barrage of bullets midair and killed an Agent. Neo is the One."  
  
The group looked over at Neo in shock. To his credit, Neo merely tightened his grip on Trinity's hand and stared back blank faced.  
  
Pusher was the one to speak. "That's ludicrous. Morpheus, I know that you've been on this search for the One forever. But Trinity, you never believed all that nonsense. What's going on?"  
  
Trinity spoke. "He's the One, Pusher. The One. And you're here to help protect him."  
  
"If he's the One, why does he need protection? Shouldn't he be protecting us?"  
  
Trinity didn't seem surprised at Pusher's hostility. "He needs protection because the Agents are afraid of him. They're designing something new, a new Agent, to kill Neo. We need to know what that is, so we can prevent that. Neo can't exactly go back in a start looking around. It's far too dangerous."  
  
"So you want me to do it?"  
  
"It's your specialty. Yes. I want you to find out what they're up to and how we can stop them."  
  
"I want a demonstration."  
  
Trinity looked confused. "A what?"  
  
"I want him to prove that he's the One."  
  
Trinity glared at Pusher for half a second, then turned her attention to Morpheus. "He wants a demonstration."  
  
Forty minutes later, Trinity pulled Neo out of the Construct and looked over to Pusher.  
  
The entire crew of the Deviance was speechless. The first to speak was Etrusca. "That was wicked great. How'd you do that?"  
  
Neo smiled. She reminded him of Mouse. "I just do it. I don't see the avatars in the Matrix; I don't see the representations; I see the code. And I can change it."  
  
Neo had left no doubt as to his identity. Even Pusher had to admit that the strength, knowledge, and abilities of this guy were preternatural. He didn't have to like the fact that Neo was obviously very close to Trinity, but he did have to help. There was always a shot that Trinity and Neo were just really close friends. That she hadn't lied all those years ago. That she didn't love the bastard.  
  
"What do you want me to do?"  
  
"We don't want to tell Zion about Neo yet. We want him to train more before we throw him into the middle of a war. I want you to transfer to the Neb for a while. You'll work specifically on finding out about this new Agent and what the Machines know about Neo."  
  
Pusher nodded and looked at Fencer. "It's okay with me. Pusher?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Okay. It's settled then. You can move your things into . . . Mouse's old room."  
  
Everyone involved looked upset. It was obvious that Pusher didn't want to use the room of one of his dead comrades. No one could blame him.  
  
Trinity spoke. "He can stay in Neo's room. He doesn't use it anyway. We'll just get his stuff and put it in our room."  
  
Neo, who was standing beside her, wrapped an arm around her waist. "Yeah. It's no problem."  
  
E5elyn, who knew exactly the thought processes of her friends, watched Pusher's face for a reaction. It had finally clicked into place. Neo and Trinity were just that, Neo and Trinity. Everyone of the Neb seemed at peace with it. Morpheus had never liked shipboard romances. He had preached against them, and ultimately it had been his viewpoint that shipped Pusher off to the Deviance. Apoc and Switch had had a relationship, but it was far more complicated than Pusher's and Trinity's. They would have ceased to function on their own. Maybe it was the same way with Trinity and Neo. Maybe.  
  
As it was very difficult to find other people with whom to interact, the Deviance remained docked with the Neb for the next day. They helped the Neb's crew with some repairs that required more than four hands. Pusher watched Trinity, in the mean time. He watched her laugh when Neo spoke to her quietly. He watched her walk over and initiate a hug, or caress. Things that she never did with him. Things that he thought she was incapable of.  
  
Like Morpheus and Tank before him, the first time he heard Neo call Trinity "baby" he expected a bloodbath. Instead he saw her put down the blowtorch that by all rights should have been barbecuing Neo's face and smile before pulling him to her for a chaste kiss. Standing behind the shelf of engine parts he watched as Neo ran his hands through her hair and hugged her again.  
  
All this pulled at his heart. He had been in love with Trinity for years. And, yes, he was mad. Mad that she had lied. Mad that she had slept with him every time she had met up with him for the last seven years. Mad that she would send him back to his quarters, or go to hers, afterwards, saying the beds were too small. Mad that she didn't even seem to recall that now that she had Neo.  
  
But he was also happy for her. He couldn't hate her. And he'd find out about this new Agent, not for Neo, but for her. 


	5. Fight!

Okay. While I should, by all rights, be working on school stuff, I shall write more about the Matrix. For I am truly a procrastinator of the first rate.  
  
Misty: Thanks for the review. We're going to be seeing what Pusher can do soon. I promise.  
  
Alina: Once again, thanks. Don't worry about the fighting; it's coming. Trinity's just worried about Neo, so she hasn't been fighting much. She's about to hit her stride again. And as for the baby part, I was a little iffy when I wrote it. But Neo has always hit me as a conventional little geek guy who was thrown into extraordinary circumstances and fell for an exceptional woman. Trinity seems like the type to keep her emotions inside, but in the movie you can always tell exactly what she wants: Neo to be the One. I think that Neo wouldn't be able to help himself, and Trinity would secretly like it, thereby letting it go. She's never struck me as the kind of person to care what others thought. So I don't think she'd make him stop saying it. You know, just so long as it isn't constant. But that's just me.  
  
Oh yeah. Does anyone else listen to the Distillers? Cause I've got their album on repeat (the first one-- it's got a Patti Smith cover). I had downloaded a crapload of their stuff. And if I actually liked it enough to go buy the album, rather than burn it, everyone should check it out. So it's sorta the soundtrack for this fic.  
  
Xixie  
  
Pusher joined Morpheus and Tank for breakfast in the mess. Everyone had been up late the last night due to a Squiddie attack. They had been able to avoid using the EMP, but the entire crew had remained awake in case of a second fly-by. Just as Pusher sat down with a bowl of delicious nutrients, a loud crash was heard down the hall.  
  
Pusher jumped up as if to investigate, but Morpheus held up a hand. Without even looking up from his food, he gestured for Pusher to sit. Tank leaned over, "You want no part of this, I assure you."  
  
Pusher was confused, to say the least. He looked towards the door, but remained seated. Some thirty seconds later, voices could be heard.  
  
"Fuck you, Trinity."  
  
Pusher looked shocked. Neo was screaming at the top of his lungs.  
  
"She doesn't take that kinda shit off him, does she?" Pusher asked Tank.  
  
Before he could answer another large metal object hit a wall. "Apparently not." Tank returned dryly.  
  
"I'm just saying, Neo," she practically spat his name, "that you could have been slightly more time effective."  
  
"Time effective! What does that even mean? Just do what you want and stop hovering over me telling me how to do everything. Jesus Christ, Trin, I'm not a child." Another loud crash was heard.  
  
Tank nodded. "Yep. Now they're both throwing stuff."  
  
Morpheus sighed, but looked completely resigned.  
  
Pusher looked from the captain to Tank. "Shouldn't someone stop them before they kill each other? Or destroy the ship?"  
  
Morpheus rubbed his eyes. "They only throw non-essential items. And if you interrupt, they'll just stop fighting, band together, and attack you. It's better to let them get it out."  
  
More crashes and loud expletives were heard. They were down the hall, but seemed to be getting closer.  
  
"Once Morpheus made them stop fighting." Tank interjected.  
  
Pusher turned to him, interested. "Yeah. He said that if they didn't stop fighting, he'd assign them jobs on opposite sides of the ship and make them stop sharing a cabin."  
  
Turning. "Yeah? How'd that work for you?"  
  
Morpheus grunted. "Well, they stopped fighting for two weeks."  
  
"Yeah," Tank laughed. "But they were entirely too tense. Then they decided to work off the frustration the old fashioned way, if you get my meaning. We didn't actually see them at all for the last week. Finally, they couldn't take it anymore. Biggest fight they've ever had."  
  
Morpheus broke in. "They broke a bank of terminals."  
  
"Yeah. But they were so happy afterwards. Smiles and hand-holding and adolescent googly eyes. Until Morpheus saw the computer bank. He separated them, just like he said. They were always working on opposite sides of the ship and Neo moved right back into his cabin."  
  
"And that worked for how long?"  
  
Tank laughed and looked to Morpheus. "They were the most obnoxiously morose people you've ever met. And at meals, they stared at each other like middle school students. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I just told them to stop breaking important stuff, and I'd stay out of their way."  
  
As if to emphasize Morpheus' point, Neo began yelling again. "What do I want you to do? I want you to shut up and go the fuck away. Is that too hard for you?"  
  
"Bastard. I don't even know why I bother. You seem perfectly happy to get yourself killed. No wonder I won't let you back in the Matrix."  
  
"Oh, boy." Tank braced himself.  
  
"You won't let me into the Matrix? Who died and made you God?" Obviously they had made their way to directly in front of the mess hall door. Trinity's screamed answer was louder than any previous comments.  
  
"You did. The second you came back. Once you were the One, I became God. Because you're too stupid to take care of yourself, and I'm not going to be fucking left alone in this goddamn real world without you. So you're going to do exactly what I say."  
  
The three at the table listened very carefully, but couldn't hear Neo's reply. A second later a dull thump was heard against the door. Pusher glanced at Morpheus and Tank, in turn. They were eating, quite sedately. "Is one of them dead?"  
  
Tank paused before answering. Muffled sounds were heard on the other side of the door. And Trinity said Neo's name very lowly, almost huskily, but not quite, because Pusher knew for a fact that she didn't do huskily. "No, they're not killing each other. But, we better save them some breakfast, cause I don't think they'll be in here any time soon." 


	6. Hopefully an explanation for past OOCTri...

Okay. So in the cold light of day, this doesn't seem as amusing as it once did. So I need you guys to hit me with the constructive criticism. I think I'm using the Subject-Verb-Object construction too much. What else needs tweaking? Or should I just give it up altogether?  
  
Xixie  
The next time Trinity and Neo made an appearance, Tank was relieved. They were acting far more normal now. He wasn't used to them staring at one another across rooms and making out in corners. He understood though. Trinity was worried about Neo. But now that the two of them had had a fight and an after-the-fight, they seemed to be getting back to normal, i.e. being able to be in the same room with out actually touching one another.  
  
On the other hand, he was slightly happy that Pusher's first impression of their relationship had been that one. Tank had worried that Pusher would try to, well, push his way back into Trinity's life. He knew full well that Pusher had been expecting to get laid when he got here. So the clingy Trinity was actually a convenient thing to have around, for once.  
  
The Matrix script turned Pusher's face green in the dim lights of the Core.  
  
Tank spoke quietly. "Found anything?"  
  
"Yeah. There's something here that the machines have specifically hidden. I can't really get to it from here. I'll have to go in. It could be the new Agent program. But then again, there's lots of things the machines want to hide from us."  
  
"I know. But Trinity gave you a partial call number, so it's not completely random. I'll go get Morpheus."  
  
"What about Trinity?"  
  
"I'm thinking we'll just let Morpheus know first. She'll want to throw you back in immediately, and Neo won't want you to go in without him."  
  
"Wouldn't want them to fight over it or anything."  
  
Tank was silent a moment. "They only do it to relieve tension. It's hard to worry about one person so much." He walked off to find Morpheus.  
  
Pusher realized that Tank was probably thinking about Dozer. They had been very close, even as children. His death must have been excruciating for the freeborn operator.  
  
Morpheus came up to inspect Pusher's findings. Agent activity was up in a normally uninhabited area of the Matrix. Pusher could detect a surge in the area due to continued large uploads from the machines. If they were trying to insert more killing programs, this would be as good a spot as any.  
  
Unfortunately, the code was far too complex to see fully from the Neb. At this point the code went from a two-dimensional scroll to a three- dimensional helix. Very few members of the Resistance were capable of decoding this type of encryption quickly. Neo would have no problem. It's nearly second nature to him. Trinity could do it; so could Morpheus, but it's not their specialty. Pusher had cultivated this talent for years; he could do it faster and better than anyone else in the area. That's why they needed him.  
  
Pusher found it ironic that he was the one person who could help protect the One, but, for completely independent reasons, didn't particularly want to. If anyone else had been the chosen, if Neo hadn't gotten Trinity, Pusher would have been rarin' to help, begging to. But here he was, selfishly wanting Trinity for himself. Wishing he were the One, so that she would want him.  
  
Once it was obvious that Pusher had located the most likely source, Morpheus called the other two crew members in to examine the findings. Trinity looked pleased. "We can go in tomorrow. I'll play backup."  
  
Neo narrowed his eyes. "I'll play backup too."  
  
"No, you won't. We've had this discussion. You'll stay here."  
  
"Trinity--" he began. Morpheus cut him off.  
  
"Pusher will go in. I'll play backup, and Trinity can observe from here. If we need an extra, she'll come in."  
  
Neo's head snapped around. "Morpheus--"  
  
"That's it, Neo. That's the plan."  
  
Neo thought. It was better than Trinity entering without him. And, to be childish about it, at least she didn't get her exact way. "Okay."  
  
Trinity looked like she wanted to argue, but as she didn't know how supportive Morpheus was of her single-handed decision to limit Neo's access to the Matrix, she figured that she should stop while she was ahead.  
  
"Tomorrow then."  
  
"We can all relax until then." Morpheus added. But no one really believed it. 


	7. Neo and Pusher have a talk! It's kinda ...

Okay. I really am having trouble getting into Trinity's mind. I really feel like she would have major issues after the end of the Matrix. I don't know. I know that she and Neo screaming the top of their lungs doesn't seem likely in the movie, but I think they would get over that real quick. When she insists on going with him to save Morpheus, he really had no other choice. I figure that if it really came to it, they'd throw down.  
  
Anyway, my inability to channel Trinity is why you get most of the stories from other points of view. And tell me if I mess up the plot. I really have no clue where this is going/coming from. Pusher, three dimensionally coded female agents, and the revelation at the end of the next chapter just sort of came out of nowhere when I was writing.  
  
I didn't even have a plot going into this thing. I just thought it would be interesting if they met up with some people on another ship while in the Matrix. That was about it.  
  
So, basically, give me some help here people. What needs to be fixed? I haven't really polished any of it enough.  
  
Thanks.  
  
Xixie  
  
Neo wasn't expecting anyone to be in the Core when he walked in. He hadn't yet gotten used to accounting for the whereabouts of a fifth person on the ship. So, unexpectedly, Neo and Pusher were alone.  
  
Neo spoke first.  
  
Pusher nodded in recognition.  
  
Neo tried again. "I came up here to fix the compressor. Or were you doing that?"  
  
"I was trying. But if you could grab that end of it, I'd get done a lot faster."  
  
Obliging, Neo moved to the other side of the object.  
  
Pusher started screwing something off. "What's it like to be the One?"  
  
Neo was surprised. No one had ever actually asked that before. "It's like not being the One. It's like being inside the Matrix and outside of it at the same time."  
  
Pusher was silent.  
  
"I'm sorry you had to come here. I don't want to cause this much trouble. If it had been up to me, I would have looked into this myself. Trinity gets overprotective sometimes."  
  
"I've noticed."  
  
Neo didn't know how to take that statement. "Anyway, oh, here's the wrench, I just hope you aren't too upset about having to temporarily leave your ship."  
  
"This used to be my ship."  
  
"Yeah. Trinity tells me that you used to be close."  
  
Pusher paused. So she had told him. He had been wondering. Neo didn't act like she had. He had walked in on Pusher and Trinity talking, even laughing, and always apologized for interrupting. He'd then leave them to the reminiscing. Pusher had assumed Trinity hadn't chosen to tell him. Otherwise, he couldn't imagine that Neo would be so content to let him chat up his girlfriend. "Yeah. We had a thing. It was short lived."  
  
"That's what she says."  
  
Pusher narrowed his eyes. What was this guy getting at? Didn't he even have the decency to pretend he was threatened?  
  
"Yeah. After I left here, it was just casual sex whenever we had the time." Pusher waited for a reaction.  
  
Neo was quiet for a few seconds. "I've never been big on casual sex. I can't imagine being with Trinity and not having her there when I woke up. It'd be worse than not having her at all."  
  
Neo held Pusher's gaze for a moment. It was Pusher who first looked away. Touche.  
  
"Well," Neo turned towards the exit. "Good thing that we got that fixed."  
  
Pusher put the last screw into the compressor. "Yeah. Great." 


	8. In which dramatic irony makes itself kno...

Don't ask me where this came from, I'm still confused myself. I didn't really want to throw Trinity into guilt mode, but you know an English Major. We can't help it when it comes to dramatic irony.  
  
Xixie  
  
Neo moved to jack Morpheus in, while Trinity plugged in Pusher. Once the two had moved from the construct to the Matrix, there was little to do but wait. Neo took one last look at Morpheus' vital signs before adjusting Pusher's armrest.  
  
Staring down at him, Neo spoke quietly to Trinity. "He doesn't like me."  
  
Not looking up from the computer screen on the left, "Doesn't matter."  
  
"Doesn't it?"  
  
Trinity closed the program and sighed. Getting up to look Neo directly in the eyes, she paused. "No, it doesn't. He doesn't have to like you. You don't have to like him. I don't have to like him. He just has to save your life."  
  
"But you do like him."  
  
Warily, Trinity turned. She had only been with Neo for four months. She had only been with Neo for three and a half months. It wasn't like she had had too much relationship experience. Being unplugged at 16, living with a father figure, two people in a relationship, and a pair of brothers you had adopted as your own didn't lend themselves to an active social life. So she not only lived with the fear of Neo's death, she lived with the fear of fucking up their relationship beyond repair. She had no barometer for interpreting Neo's last statement. Was he jealous? Annoyed? Simply pensive?  
  
Fortunately, Trinity wasn't the type to beat herself up emotionally. "Yeah. I guess I do. . . . I was glad when he got transferred off the ship, I. . . ."  
  
Tank entered from the back of the ship. "You guys can go get some rest. I'll keep watch."  
  
Trin nodded briskly and left the room.  
  
Neo found her in their cabin. She looked like she was organizing engine parts in a box. "Is there a reason your doing that?" he smiled.  
  
"I just figured I didn't have anything else to do."  
  
Taking a small metal ring from her hands, Neo led her over to their bunk. "Just sit down and tell me."  
  
"Tell you what?"  
  
"Whatever it is that you've wanted to tell me for the last couple of days, but haven't. Tell me about you and Pusher."  
  
So he'd finally asked. "Yes. I've finally asked. But not because I don't trust you. You just want to tell me."  
  
Sometimes it really annoyed the hell out of her when he just started reading her mind like that.  
  
Sitting beside her, Neo looked straight ahead. She wanted questions. She'd been waiting for questions. Fine. "When did you meet him?"  
  
"He was unplugged about a year after me. He was twenty."  
  
"You were seventeen."  
  
"Usually, a recruit attaches himself to one person. They help him get adjusted. You didn't really have time for the traditional, get-to-know-the- real-world thing. I guess you would have latched onto Morpheus."  
  
"I would have latched onto you. Assuming you would have let me."  
  
Trinity smiled. "I might have. Anyway. Pusher and I were expected to bond. We were around the same age; we had roughly the same talents. I was in charge of training him."  
  
"So he latched onto you."  
  
"Yes. It wasn't like there was a lot of choice in friends. We started a relationship because there wasn't anything else to do."  
  
She paused again. "I'd never even had sex in the Matrix. So after about five months, we did."  
  
"That's kinda what happens in these situations, Trin. Why did he have to leave the Neb?"  
  
"He fell in love, and I didn't."  
  
Neo waited for more.  
  
"I rebelled against the idea of love. Why should I have to pick from a group of five, just because I was on this ship instead of in the Matrix, or even in Zion? Besides, the Oracle had told me about you. I didn't really believe her, but I did enough to know Pusher wasn't what I wanted. But we were young. I still liked the sex."  
  
Neo had to smile at that.  
  
"Don't smirk. I used him for sex. I was the bad guy. But I told him up front, and he didn't want to believe it. So, after awhile it was easier to forego the sex altogether. It really wasn't worth the trouble."  
  
"Did you ask to have him transferred?" "No. Morpheus just came and said he could. But he left it up to me. I told him to do it."  
  
"Okay. So why do you feel bad about it?"  
  
"I don't."  
  
Neo was silent.  
  
"That's just stupid."  
  
Neo nodded.  
  
"Why should I? I mean . . . ."  
  
Neo looked over at her wordlessly.  
  
"Damn you. I feel guilty because I had him transferred and this was his family. We unplugged him, trained him, lived with him, and I got tired of the hassle of sex and sent him off."  
  
"Yeah. But I really think that Morpheus would have done it anyway. If Pusher had been such an integral part of the crew, I'm fairly sure Morpheus would have found a way to make you two deal with it. Hell, he tried to separate us that one time, remember? If he thought for a second that that would work on us, he must have figured he could have fixed you two right up."  
  
Trinity laughed at the memory. Morpheus still believed they'd slept in separate rooms for those two weeks. For a strategic genius and world renowned hacker (hell, world renowned in two worlds), he certainly had no clue what happened around him sometimes.  
  
"We had to replace him, unplug someone else."  
  
"Mouse?"  
  
Trinity looked at him incredulously. "He would have been, what, four?"  
  
"Good point."  
  
"Cypher."  
  
Neo inhaled. Cypher. Judas. Young Anakin Skywalker. Hulk Hogan that time he turned bad and everyone threw trash in the ring. So Trinity blamed herself for Cypher's unplugging and ultimate betrayal.  
  
Trinity was staring at her hands, she figured she was the only person who had put all this together. She knew no one else blamed her; logically she knew she wasn't culpable. Logically. Neo reached over to take her hand in his. They sat in silence for a long time. Finally, Neo raised her hand to his lips pressing a kiss on the back of it. "It's not your fault."  
  
Trinity released a breath she had no idea she was holding. Closing her eyes, she felt tears pricking up. Pushing them back, she smiled. She'd just wanted someone to say it. 


	9. Morpheus and Pusher shoot the breeze

Okay. Here's some more. I get the serious feeling that people really hate my characterizations of Trin and Neo. No one likes the idea of them shouting "Fuck you" across the ship. Well, I agree that it wouldn't happen in the movie, but don't see it as far a leap as the rest of you apparently. Neo's a dork. Really. He couldn't handle himself in a fight; he has no ability for the snappy comeback. Not to Trinity. He has to resort to expletives. And I think that Trinity would change significantly once she and Neo got together, so you know.  
  
Anyway. I know I'm really bad at this, but I'm so excited about the new movie, I just had to write something. So please don't hate me.  
  
I also want to apologize for the Hulk Hogan line in the last chapter. That was supposed to be filler until I found a better statement, but it got left in. I'm fairly sure not everyone on the planet has vivid childhood memories of Hulk Hogan, The Macho Man Randy Savage, and the Lovely Miss Elizabeth (she was a classy lady).  
  
Oh yeah! Xixie  
Pusher looked to Morpheus before moving into the crowd. Following leisurely, Morpheus added an extra sense of presence. The two in their black clothing looked only slightly out of place in the urban crowd. However, once they made their way to the uninhabited rural area, they would stick out like sore thumbs. But trying to blend never worked well, so they would have to go with keeping out of sight.  
  
A car was waiting for them on the other side of the street. Pusher glanced at Morpheus in question before walking over to the driver's side. Phoning Tank for directions, Morpheus looked thoughtful then buckled his seatbelt. Pusher paused, but didn't copy.  
  
As the car moved off, Pusher looked over at his temporary captain before focusing his attention on the road. Morpheus looked at the hacker from the corner of his eye. He obviously wanted to talk about something. Morpheus was under no illusions as to the subject. He had worried about Pusher's reaction to Trinity and Neo. Years ago, when he had had the boy transferred, he had let Trinity believe she had made the decision. It was his way of allowing the young girl he already knew was to become a great leader a sense of power. Really, as wonderful a hacker as Pusher was, his name was all too fitting. He had no idea when to stop, and Morpheus had noted an inability to emotionally disassociate.  
  
Morpheus knew that Pusher would have preferred Trinity go in with him. He had been dying to get her alone, with no possibility of Neo, to grill her.  
  
Not specifically supportive of Neo's banishment from the Matrix, Morpheus was, however, supportive of slowly introducing the young man to other Resistance fighters as the One. He also knew that the crew of the Deviance, specifically Fencer, E5elyn, and Pusher, were very close to some of the generals running the war in Zion.  
  
Morpheus knew that when the time came, these generals would not relish handing the war over to Neo, and Morpheus knew, by extension Trinity.  
  
Morpheus also realized that he was destined to lead the war from Zion. The Oracle had told him, warned him that this must be carefully planned, seeds laid.  
  
Morpheus was walking a treacherous path. He had to mold Neo into a fighter. At this point he had the power, but not the mentality. Trinity's position was understandable. Watching the one person you love die is life changing. Knowing, after that, that there is no way to ever protect him from that danger was horrifying. Morpheus understood. He loved his crew like children, but he sent them out regularly at the risk of death. Trinity also had to deal with not only being the commanding officer of Man's Matrix god, but also with being in love with him.  
  
Their fights at first worried Morpheus. He realized that neither one could possibly function on their own. Before Neo, Trinity had been cold, not unfeeling, just mechanical. There was no going back to that for her. She had spent her time fighting for the day she would meet him. Now that she had, to lose Neo would mean losing her will to fight. He didn't want them to split of a stupid argument.  
  
Once he had begun paying attention, it was obvious that their frequent fights were superficial. They only fought over inconsequential things. Serious problems were dealt with far more diplomatically. It was like they knew that they could never alienate one another, so fighting became a hobby. If the fighting became serious, if they hit a pressure point, the fight collapsed in on itself. Their last fight was a perfect example. Once Trinity came out with actual emotions, it was time to move to another tactic, comfort, assurance that the other was actually there.  
  
Neo, for all his deity-like ability in the Matrix, didn't really know how to navigate the real world. Once the Matrix fell, what do you do with the One? New wouldn't survive-- not without Trinity. She was really his only link to the real world.  
  
So Morpheus was forced to work with Trinity's fears, Neo's insecurities, and the fact that, for the purposes of the Resistance and their sanity, they were one person.  
  
So if Pusher's presence made Trinity feel she was protecting Neo, then that was fine. Hopefully, Pusher's animosity would help Neo to begin dealing with problems in the real world. So far those had been delegated to Trinity, who would much rather protect him in the one place she was more adept.  
  
As Morpheus starred out the window musing, Pusher decided to speak. "So you finally found the One."  
  
Turning to look at his companion. "Yes. We did."  
  
"I was surprised to see that he and Trinity bonded so quickly."  
  
Pusher had learned the art of subtlety over the years.  
  
"Hm. In retrospect, I believe I was expecting it."  
  
"Did she train him?"  
  
"No. I did. I meant from before he was unplugged."  
  
"How's that? What, was he a lady's man?"  
  
Morpheus nearly snorted. "Quite the opposite. I hesitate to use the word dork."  
  
"Well, then."  
  
Morpheus breathed in. Why not? The story was bound to become legend. He could get the ball rolling.  
  
"She spent most of her time watching him, took other people's shifts. She insisted on making first contact. She programmed new clothes for the meeting-- something strapless, as I recall. Once he was unplugged she was quiet. She stayed away from him. But I caught her watching him sleep more than once."  
  
"Think it will last?"  
  
Morpheus didn't speak for a second. "If you were paying attention, you'd realize how absurd that question is."  
  
Pusher scowled, but Morpheus continued. "I suggest staying out of it. There's nothing you can do, and you do not want a fight. Trinity could take you in the real world, and Neo would devastate you in the Matrix."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Pusher. Neo can kick my ass in the Matrix. You have no shot."  
  
The two were silent for the rest of the trip. 


	10. I wrote this on painkillers, so there's ...

Okay people. Here's the next bit. A very wonderful person emailed me asking for an update. As I will be attending a fetish convention over the weekend, I figured I should post this before I jet off. I also hurt my back the other day and had to go to the emergency room. Currently, I am pretty woozy from painkillers, so this could be incoherent. Alas, they aren't even hardcore painkillers. See what happens when you lead a drug free lifestyle? Any little thing just knocks you on your ass.  
  
The website of the convention I'm going to is www.fantasm.org. Feel free to visit. Suspension show on Friday! Or maybe Saturday. I don't remember. I'm high.  
  
Xixie  
  
Trinity pulled the jack from Morpheus' head. Her expression was one of inquiry. After years, the two commanding officers didn't have to speak.  
  
"Pusher found something."  
  
"What?" her impatience was palpable.  
  
"We'll discuss it in a moment Trinity. Pusher's not even out yet."  
  
Trin glanced over to the jacked in Pusher. He appeared to be sleeping. She noted how he hadn't changed at all over the years. He still wore the same contented expression when at rest. It was the face he always had just before she kicked him out of her bed.  
  
Rolling her eyes, she walked over to his prone form. As Tank made the call, she pulled the jack out of his head.  
  
He had barely had time to sit up before Trinity was asking for information. "Jesus, Trin. Your boy's not even in the Matrix. You can wait for a minute."  
  
Her eyes narrowed, but she remained silent. Turning on her heel, she walked towards the door. "When you two are ready to talk, I'll be working in the engine room."  
  
While she really had no specific work to do, Trinity figured she could at least run a diagnostic on the heating system. That hadn't been done in a while. As she passed the mess hall, she noticed Neo getting a tin of water. He had his back to the door, so Trinity paused to watch him without being noticed.  
  
Trinity was aware of the annoyance she was causing the crew. Even Morpheus, who usually backed her decisions no matter what, seemed off put by her extreme protectiveness. Musing, Trinity moved down the hallway without speaking to Neo. It was difficult to go from the in control, logical, second-in-command to the woman in love with the one man every machine on the planet wanted to kill.  
  
The Oracle had told her that she would fall in love with the One. She had also told her that she would be the only person who would truly see him as himself, rather than a savior. She was to watch him. Make sure he didn't let others overextend his powers. She was the One's safety valve. She had prepared herself for Zion. Neo was far too noble to refuse any of the council's demands. Trinity, however, would be there to mediate. To say no when Neo couldn't. She knew it wouldn't make her popular, but it would keep Neo alive. That was all she cared about.  
  
Even Morpheus thought of Neo as more of a weapon than a crewman. Who could blame him? He had seen Neo do things that no one had even imagined. Even Trinity, at first, had been in awe. Then one day it just changed. They were in the Matrix; it was a not so random joint attack on an Agent stronghold. An agent had pushed Dujour off the side of a skyscraper just as he fired a round straight at Neo's heart. Morpheus himself had been speechless as Neo simply jumped over the bullet and off the building. The bullet had turned mid air, rushed back toward the agent who turned into the corpse of a construction worker. The agent was dispersed, but Morpheus, Trinity, Choi, and Gavel stood looking at the edge of the building. Choi, who thought his lover was dead, began to dial his Operator when Neo floated Superman-style onto the top of the building holding onto Dujour's right arm. He slowly lowered Dujour, before landing himself.  
  
While everyone from Morpheus to Dujour stared at Neo, Trinity felt no surge of awe. She simply felt the same relief she always felt once a fight was over and she could see everyone was out of trouble. Choi, wrenching himself free of his stupor, rushed to Dujour's side. Then turned to look again at Neo, who, oblivious, was scanning the surrounding code for signs of agent activity. Trinity had walked to his side, at the same time phoning Tank to order an exit.  
  
As if everything were normal, Neo looked down into Trin's eyes for a second before turning for directions to his captain. The looks of raw admiration had been disconcerting. As Trinity disconnected her phone she noticed the uncomfortable stares and Neo's silence.  
  
Placing one hand on his arm, she had spoken to the group. "The exit is on the corner of Bell and Bennett. We should get there immediately."  
  
Her tone had been enough to snap Morpheus out of his revery. It was still very new to him. Finding the One had been his goal for so long, he could hardly believe that he had actually succeeded.  
  
Once the group was safely ensconced at the abandoned record store which housed the hardline, Choi had spoken. "I wondered why you had us contact Neo. He seemed too old to free. You didn't mention that you had found the One."  
  
Trinity sensed that Morpheus was about to go into a long description of the events that led up to Neo's realization of power. Glancing at her lover, she could see his discomfort at being the center of attention. So, breaking into the conversation, "We didn't mention it, and you shouldn't either. There's no way to keep you out of the loop now, but Neo doesn't need Zion breathing down his neck just yet. So you have to keep this to yourself."  
  
Dujour and Trinity had been friends for years. Ever since the girl had been unplugged. She knew that she could trust her with Neo's secret, but didn't want to go through the whole creation myth while Neo was in earshot. Neither of them liked the resurrection bit, and, well, the part of Judas was played by the Gavel's ex-lover. Perhaps more than one person was too closely connected to the whole thing to spill it out in the harsh unreality of the Matrix.  
  
Trinity had used a new program, designed by Neo, that allowed ships to network their constructs. She had used this program to explain later, about Neo. The crew of the Circe were the first to learn of Neo. The Deviance had been the second.  
  
Trinity finished the diagnostic just as Morpheus arrived.  
  
Looking up, "Ready to tell me anything yet, or should I start on the engine coolant system?"  
  
Morpheus let out a breath before speaking. "Trinity, we should talk."  
  
Finally, thought Trinity. It was about time he confronted her about their differing views on Neo's uses. Morpheus was like a father to her, and, in turn, he considered her a daughter. Neo, however, was more like a straight recruit. In Morpheus' eyes, fate had drafted Neo at birth. All other concerns should be secondary to Neo's desire to destroy the Matrix.  
  
Trinity realized that Neo could only do this if he kept a sense of connection to the human world. He was her connection; she might as well be his.  
  
"Pusher found that the machines have designed a new type of agent. It is female in appearance, and Neo is its target."  
  
Trinity, who had expected as much, nodded. "So we keep Neo out of the Matrix until we can learn more about the new threat."  
  
Morpheus remained silent, then, "Trinity, Neo is the One. He must face these agents eventually. He will prevail."  
  
Quietly, Trinity responded. "He's already died once. Isn't that enough? You can't expect him to be god. Yes, he's the One, but we have to take every precaution."  
  
"Trinity. You're not thinking as a soldier in this manner."  
  
She looked directly into Morpheus' eyes. "No. I'm thinking as a woman. I will not allow anyone, even you, to overlook the fact that Neo is a person, not a weapon. We can't just throw him at every obstacle, hoping that he will blindly overcome outrageous odds."  
  
She paused for a second. "Neo would never tell you, or anyone else for that matter, no, if he thought he could save lives. I will."  
  
"Trinity. I, more than anyone, know Neo's importance to the Resistance. I would never seek to endanger him recklessly. He has to face the new agents."  
  
Trinity sighed, recognizing the salience of the argument. "I know that. But I, more than anyone, know Neo's importance to me, not the Resistance, not the countless, unaware masses still stuck in the Matrix, but to me, personally. Sometimes, he has to just be a man."  
  
Morpheus knew that Trinity was correct. That they were both correct. "You can accompany Neo into the Matrix on his next outing. You will be in command and can order an exit whenever you feel it necessary. I will have Pusher work with the code, perhaps he can recreate some of it from memory. Then Neo could experiment with it in the Construct before having to face it in the Matrix. We will move down from broadcast depth for at least 4 days. Then we will allow Neo to enter again."  
  
Trinity nodded. 


	11. In which I lose the thread of the story,...

A/N: I'm really sorry that I haven't updated in forever. I've had this chapter done for weeks. I'm a horrible person. But I did get a 4.0 this semester, so, you know, studying good. But anyway, I have reservations about these two chapters. They don't flow too well for me. I know what I'm trying to say, but I don't want to just say it. So let me know what you think. I have two hella long chapters for you. It's my apology for the long wait.  
  
Xixie  
  
In which I lose the thread of the story . . . I think.  
  
Pusher awoke the morning after his trip into the Matrix early. Assuming that no one would be awake, he padded into the mess hall for breakfast. Surprised to find Trinity already awake and eating, he nodded before sitting across from her.  
  
"Morning, Trin."  
  
"Morning. You know I really hate it when people call me that."  
  
"I know."  
  
Trinity smiled, but raised an eyebrow.  
  
He looked at her for a moment, then nodded. "Okay. Trinity."  
  
"You and I are going to work in the Construct today. Hopefully we can recreate the code that you hacked yesterday. If we can recreate a segment of the new agent's programming, maybe Neo can figure out how to dismantle it."  
  
Pusher nodded. He could recreate the code; it'd probably take hours upon hours, but he could do it. It was, however, some of the most amazingly complex stuff he'd ever seen. Just how Neo managed to dismantle Agent Smith still confused Pusher, but he figured that even the One would have problems with this new thing.  
  
The generators kicked in at that moment, signaling the beginning of "morning." Pusher figured the rest of the crew would be rising any time now.  
  
He was not mistaken. Only five minutes later, Neo entered the mess looking sleepy.  
  
Although he found Neo's half-awake mumbling annoying, he watched as Trinity followed his every move with her eyes, smiling when he bumped into the edge of the bench before plopping down beside his lover.  
  
Staring bleakly at the back wall before turning to his right, Neo yawned before saying, "Why'd you get up so early, Trin? I'd have gotten up to, if you'd wanted."  
  
"Yeah. You look so ready to be awake."  
  
Pusher got up from the table, moving away to wash his bowl. "I'll be on the bridge when your ready to go in, Trin- ity."  
  
Trinity, who was talking to Neo in a low voice, turned slightly. "I'll be up when we're finished with breakfast."  
  
Neo looked up. "Going in where?"  
  
"Just to the Construct. We're going to work on the code he found yesterday. Give you a visual aid."  
  
"I could have just looked at it myself, you know."  
  
Trinity thought about throwing out a remark about his safety and needing to be careful, but thought better. "I know. But this way, since I get to work with him on this, you not only get to wash my dishes, you also get to revamp the repulsor arrays." She referred to the very messy job of cleaning out and recalibrating a series of engine nodes.  
  
"Well," Neo returned dryly. "As long as there's an upside."  
  
Anyone who knew the Trinity of a year ago would have been shocked at the genuine smile that she gave him, and probably disconcerted with the way she crinkled her nose before leaning forward to kiss him. "Off to work."  
  
Morpheus and Tank moved out of the doorway so that Trinity could get past.  
  
Neo stood, taking his and Trinity's dishes over to the sink. "I get stuck doing this a lot, don't I?"  
  
Morpheus and Tank thought for a second, before replying in unison. "Yeah."  
  
*****  
  
Trinity and Pusher entered the Construct under the supervision of Tank. Immediately, Trinity had him pull up the program he had been compiling on the computer. The three-dimensional nature of the code made if far easier at this point to manipulate the strings of symbols in cyberspace. And Trinity, would had pretty much hovered over Pusher while he worked on the code, was familiar enough to help him.  
  
As soon as they started, Pusher began the questioning he had been waiting for. "So. Trinity. What's up with you and Savior-boy?"  
  
Trinity looked at him with an unreadable expression. "You've been here for a week. You managed to hold off questions for a lot longer than I expected." She supposed she owed him some answers.  
  
"Not really. It's just very difficult to find a time when the two of you aren't attached at the hip."  
  
"I don't know what you mean."  
  
Trinity moved a strand of code, which caused a cascade effect. The entire shape of the coding changed. Pusher moved to examine the programming from a new angle.  
  
"For a person who used to swear that the beds were too small for one person, let alone two, you seem to have found a way to work around it."  
  
"All it takes is a desire to work around it. Then the problem disappears."  
  
"Six months ago, when we met up at the Tashi incident, you said you didn't want to sleep with me. You said that physical attachments were irrelevant. That we should focus specifically on the Rebellion. And you changed your mind two months after that?"  
  
Trinity countered another cascade caused by Pusher. "We're not in a relationship, Pusher. Technically, we were never in a relationship. This is none of your business."  
  
"Trin. It's not as if I want you back or anything. I'm just worried that you've changed yourself too much for this guy. You don't have to love him just because he's the One."  
  
"You never had me to get back. And I won't say I haven't been changed by Neo, but I will say that I'm happier now than before."  
  
Trinity paused to look Pusher in the eye. "And I don't love him because he's the One. He's the One because I love him."  
  
She paused. "Just so you know, the only reason I said that six months ago was because we had already started monitoring Neo. I couldn't bring myself to fuck you and then go watch him sleep. I would have felt dirty."  
  
Just because she owed him answers didn't mean she had to be nice during questioning.  
  
Pusher managed to keep the look of pain off his face. "Don't get nasty or anything."  
  
Calmly, Trinity surveyed the coding. "You're the one who just insinuated that I'm only with Neo because of his position as the One. What would that make me? A groupie?"  
  
"You've been unplugged for two decades, Trinity. In that time, you've been in, what, two relationships? Fucked four or so guys?"  
  
"Don't forget Juria. That's one girl." Pusher snorted. "Men have been falling in and out of love with you, more of them in than out, for years. I just don't see anything so damned wonderful about Neo. Other than the fact that he's the One. Why'd you pick him?"  
  
"I didn't choose him. He just happened. I'm just lucky he choose me back."  
  
Trinity could see that Pusher still had feelings for her. Not as strong as they used to be, but still there nonetheless. He exuded an almost palpable sense of distaste whenever she and Neo interacted. Neo, being Neo, hadn't particularly noticed how his actions irked Pusher. Trinity was tired of seeing Pusher twinge any time she leaned near her lover. He needed get over this fast. Before she had to hurt him.  
  
"Look Pusher. I'm going to tell you this because I think you deserve to know it. We are actually friends, no matter how adolescent you've been behaving about Neo. Yeah, I can tell. In my entire life I've never been in love. Never. Not with you or anyone else. Until Neo. So just let it alone. If Morpheus can put up with it, then you can certainly deal with it long enough to help us with this problem and return to your ship."  
  
Pusher's eyes darkened. "Of course, Trinity." He stressed her full name. "I was just worried about you."  
  
The two continued working in silence.  
  
After seven straight hours of working, Morpheus insisted that they take a break. Trinity was single-mindedly focused on the problem at hand, but didn't put up much of a fight. The project was becoming redundant. They'd fix one thing, then another would fall through. Fixing that would cause the original problem to return. Figuring a lunch break was better than a mental breakdown, they were pulled out.  
  
Pusher rose from the chair after the jack was removed. "You want to go grab something to eat, Trinity?"  
  
He looked over at the chair beside him. Apparently, Neo had been hovering around waiting for her to get out. He had just unplugged her, and now they were moving towards the ladder. Trinity had apparently not heard him.  
  
Jesus. They were stuck on a small ship in the middle of a desolate landscape of abandoned sewer systems. Didn't they ever just get tired of each other? Even when he and Trinity had been sleeping together, she insisted that he keep some distance. She hadn't liked being crowded. Hell, even when they were on separate ships and were only together for short periods of time, sporadically, she still hadn't wanted him to stand around all the time.  
  
When Pusher made his way back to the chairs, he saw both Trinity and Neo ready to go.  
  
Seeing his questioning gaze Trinity said, "I think we've recreated a big enough chunk to give Neo some idea. He'll be able to extrapolate from you've already found, probably."  
  
Pusher wasn't a fan of others putting their hands in his work before he was ready, but couldn't really say no. Besides, even if the guy could get some sort of idea, he and Trinity had been having problems working out a specific problem with the program. It had to be something he had mis- remembered, or just plain forgot, but this was really advanced code. No one had seen anything like this before, it was going to be slow going.  
  
***** When the three materialized in the Construct, Pusher took a moment to study Neo's RSI. You could tell a lot about a person from the mental presentation they had of themselves. Pusher, himself, was wearing PVC pants and a black shirt with red flecks when he turned. His hair, brown, was short, the way he kept it in the Real World.  
  
Neo was wearing a black outfit, the whole thing looked like it was made of wool, for some reason. Pusher had never seen someone project their image in wool. The thing had a long coat and was buttoned up to his throat. When Neo turned, the coat moved behind him, almost slowly rippling.  
  
Trinity was showing him the code that they had come up with so far. Pusher figured he would go and try to explain what exactly he had seen and what they were going for.  
  
"The problem is that the code had a new symbol in it. And, since it was 3D, I only saw part of it. I'm sure that's the key."  
  
Neo didn't acknowledge his words. He stared at the code like he was the only person in the room. When he looked up from the code, finally, "Yeah. Looks like."  
  
Reaching into the middle of the code mass, Neo pulled out a representation of the unfinished hieroglyph. Pusher looked on in alarm, "No. Don't do that."  
  
That one piece of code was the keystone of the entire structure. Rage rose up in Pusher, now the seven hour code construction he and Trinity had worked on would fall. Neo could have easily asked for Pusher to bring up another representation.  
  
Looking over to watch his work fall, Pusher was shocked to see it as stable as ever, even with the missing link.  
  
"How's that possible?"  
  
Neo was staring at the rune, hanging in the air between him and Trinity. "I'm keeping it up. Don't worry."  
  
Pusher couldn't bring himself to say anything.  
  
After what seemed like forever, maybe a minute and a half, Neo nodded to himself. Pusher was annoyed to see that Trinity, who had been amusing herself with moving the remaining glyphs to see how they would fit without the cascade effect and was seemingly oblivious to the surrounding world, was so attuned to Neo that she immediately moved to his side, leaving the code construction mangled and ill-fitting.  
  
"What?" Pusher asked.  
  
"I got it."  
  
Pusher took a breath. "You got it? What, an overview? Why have we just been standing around watching you stare?"  
  
Neo looked to the side of the glyph at thin air. A small green spark appeared, growing and forming another three-dimensional glyph. Neo pushed these two together; they merged to form a new whole. Pusher's glyph changed to a nearly unrecognizable fifth of the formation.  
  
Neo moved over to the frozen code mass. Looking at Trinity's "improvements," Neo turned to her and smiled, eyebrows raised. Trinity looked innocent and shrugged, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.  
  
Sticking his hand into the middle of the form, Neo made all the glyphs move back to their original positions. Then he looked into it for a moment, finally reaching in and pulling out handfuls of code at a speed nearly impossible to follow. When he had finished gutting Pusher's work, Neo stepped back and released his hold on the structure. Pusher gaped as the entire thing collapsed in on itself and reconstituted in a more streamlined form.  
  
Neo then turned to his new glyph. The rune duplicated itself three times, and Neo pushed the four symbols into seemingly random positions in the whole. Pulling a phone from his pocket, "Tank, make the Construct read and run this, freeze it once she's been formed."  
  
The green form disappeared, leaving a tall, pale, dark-haired woman in its place. She wore a clinging white dress and looked almost angelic.  
  
Pusher marveled at the sight. "That's not what I saw. I only pulled a small string of information out. That's far too complex to be extrapolated."  
  
Neo moved to Trinity's side. "Not really."  
  
"It only took you five minutes to do all that."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Why did we spend all fucking morning in here then? If you could just do that at any second?"  
  
Neo turned his head slowly to look at Pusher. No emotion showed on his face, and Pusher marveled at the differences between Matrix Neo and Real World Neo. "Call Tank. Tell him to get us out."  
  
Even though it was said quietly, it was an order. Pusher narrowed his eyes. But then he realized, even though he was looking at him, Neo was speaking to Trinity. Trinity, who immediately pulled out her Nokia and hit send. "Get us out."  
  
Pusher was glad as he felt the familiar pull in the back of his mind. Had he been in the Construct one second longer, he would have hit Neo. That one order to Trinity was galling enough. The fact that she unquestioningly obeyed nearly choked her ex-lover.  
  
A/N: Bear with me here people. I'm not a sexist bastard. I'm a politically active lesbian feminist of the British Marxist variety. So, don't hate me until you at least read the next chapter.  
  
Xixie 


	12. Chaos Ensues

A/N: Alright guys. I'm completely not sure about this one. You'll have to let me know. It seems a little forced. You know. I really hate it when I'm reading fanfiction and the author tells me how awful the thing is before I read it. So I'm going to shut up now. But some constructive criticism would be nice.  
  
Xixie  
  
Chaos Ensues  
  
A glowering Pusher followed Morpheus into the mess hall. Apparently the room had become the defacto war room, and Neo and Trinity marched in towards the sofas accordingly.  
  
Only Morpheus remained standing. "What did you find?"  
  
Pusher's mood was in no way improved when Neo spoke. "We got it. It is a new agent. Once we run the program, we should be able to ascertain exactly what her specifications are."  
  
Morpheus nodded. "I'll be going in to look at her later. Do you three have any suggestions, before we run her?"  
  
When no one spoke, Trinity shifted. "Let's just run it. I'll feel a lot better when I know how Neo's going to kill it."  
  
"What's the difference in the code? Why did it take so long to reconstruct?" Morpheus was looking at Pusher.  
  
"It's has a new symbol. I've never seen it before. I didn't get all of it when we were in."  
  
Trinity interrupted. "Neo figured it out. I think we should go back in as soon as possible."  
  
Morpheus nodded while the three stood. Neo began walking towards the Core. "Once we're in, I'll shield us so that she can't see us. We'll add some simulations of me and see what happens."  
  
Pusher was confused. "What do you mean 'shield us?'"  
  
"I'll skew the code so we're cloaked." He said it as if it were nothing.  
  
"Can you do that in the Matrix?"  
  
"No."  
  
As if it were a stupid question. "Why not? They run on the same principles."  
  
"Yeah. But, in the Construct, we control all the independent variables." Pusher still looked confused, so he continued. "It's one thing to change the code when I know exactly what forces are going to be acting on it at every moment. It's another thing to change the code that completely, for that extended a time, and have to contend with a thousand coppertops walking by. The Butterfly effect could throw everything out of whack. The Matrix runs on Chaos theory, like in Jurassic Park."  
  
He had stopped at the door for his lecture. Trinity walked past him, amused. "Neo, we were all unplugged before that movie came out."  
  
"Oh. Well, you missed out. A T-Rex ate a lawyer. And that was the comic relief. Says a lot about people, doesn't it?"  
  
Tank entered the mess hall. "Morpheus. The Amelia Earhart has contacted us. Captain Femina wants to talk to you."  
  
"Connect her to my personal quarters." He turned to his crew.  
  
Neo waved a hand. "It's cool. We'll go in. Just have Tank resituate the code a bit before you enter, so I'll know you're coming. I won't let her see you."  
  
Morpheus nodded before moving towards his quarters.  
  
Pusher rankled as Neo led the way to the Core. "Trinity, do a sweep of the coding. Make sure it's grounded in the Construct. I don't want it trying to work its way into our systems."  
  
Pusher spoke. "That was the first thing I did, Neo."  
  
"I just want to be positive. Once we're in, I want you to run a standard diagnostic every thirty seconds. I'm going to need as much data as possible when we come out."  
  
Pusher narrowed his eyes at the order. "Shouldn't I be watching a readout of the code as she runs?"  
  
"Don't worry about it. I'm going to be doing that. Once were in don't move out of a five foot radius of me. For your own protection."  
  
Glancing at Trinity's form in the corner, "Shouldn't you go tell Trinity that, or something?"  
  
"She already knows." Turning. "Trinity. If you're finished, go work out the standardization codes for the Construct. I want them to be slightly different."  
  
Pusher watched as Trinity looked up, nodded and headed for the control panel. What the hell was wrong with her? She was Neo's superior officer. Hell, he was Neo's superior officer, if you really wanted to break it down. "Neo. I think I should run the testing."  
  
Neo looked confused. "Why?" "Because that's why Morpheus asked me to come here."  
  
"No. It's cool. You've done all you needed to. You got the basic outline down. I've got it from here. But you can access the storage files. Maybe you could hollow out a file for the program. I don't want it anywhere near our important information. It looks worm-like from an angle."  
  
Pusher looked to Trinity, who was happily carrying out Neo's orders in Tank's chair. After all that Pusher had gone through, after he left his damn ship, Neo just hopped into the Construct, randomly fixed his work, and was now ordering- ORDERING- him to do sweeping up work. What the hell?  
  
As Neo turned, in what Pusher took as a dismissive motion, he was spun around by Pusher and punched in the face. As he reeled backwards, Pusher moved forward to land two hard punches in his stomach. Pusher smiled. Thank god he had enough sense to attack the guy in the real world. He may be a god in the Matrix, but on the Neb, he was a wimp.  
  
What he hadn't counted on was Trinity. She had turned around on the first punch, and by the third, was at his side. Glancing at Neo, she kicked Pusher swiftly in the stomach, then moved to the side to come in hard with a right hook to the face.  
  
Pusher moved to trip her, but was in no way fast enough. Trinity managed to land a few more blows before shoving him against the back wall. Neo had moved behind her. "Trin."  
  
Holding Pusher against the wall by his throat she didn't look at her lover. "Neo. Go to our room and wait for me. Lock the door when you leave."  
  
"Okay. I'll wait for you."  
  
Trinity nodded even as Neo turned his back. Once she heard the lock click into place, she spoke. "Do you realize that he was bleeding?"  
  
Pusher had never seen her this angry before. "Yes."  
  
"Generally speaking, I would have already killed anyone who made him bleed."  
  
Pusher tried to move away from Trinity, but as she had a firm grip on his throat, and his arm was pinned behind him at a strange and very painful angle, he figured he wasn't going anywhere soon. "What the hell were you thinking?"  
  
"Jesus Trin. He's got an attitude, and he treats you like a servant."  
  
"What the fuck are you talking about?"  
  
"Let me go, will you?"  
  
Trinity paused for a moment, then released him. "You realize that I'm not finished with you yet, right?"  
  
Pusher slowly brought his arm around to his front. He held it against himself. "Trin."  
  
"Don't call me that again."  
  
"See? That's it. You hate it when people call you Trin. You hate it. But he does it all the time. And you let him. In the Construct earlier, he casually ordered you to call Morpheus. You did it without hesitating. And he was in here, walking around like he's the Captain. He even gave Morpheus directions about entering after us. Just because he's the One, doesn't make him the leader."  
  
Trinity closed her eyes. "Yes it does. That's exactly what it does. He's the One. Yeah, he said to do something, and I didn't hesitate. Because, in the Matrix, hesitation will get you killed. If he tells me to call Morpheus or change a code or fucking duck, I'm going to do it. Because not doing it could get me killed. When Agents show up, you don't generally have time for please and thank yous. When it comes to the Matrix, he's in charge."  
  
"Well that doesn't account for everyone following his orders on the ship. You cater to him. You give in to half his demands. Hell, you wouldn't even let him handle his own battles. Here you are, dealing with me."  
  
"No one caters to him. First off, we're in a relationship. The definition of which includes giving in half the time. Trust me. Half the time, I'm doing just fine. But that's none of your business. If I want to marry him, have kids, and let him make all the decisions, it's my fucking business. I let him call me Trin, because I like it when he does it. I like it. Why can't you just understand? Stop being jealous. You're not my lover; you're not the One; at this point, you're not even my friend."  
  
"Trinity. This is between me and Neo. You jumped in between us. I don't want it to effect our friendship."  
  
"No. This is between you and me. You attacked him here, because you're too much of a coward to face him in the Matrix. This is the dichotomy of our relationship, Pusher. He controls the Matrix. It's his domain, and he protects everyone there. He protects me. But he's not equipped to deal fully with the real world. He's only been unplugged for four months. His muscles aren't even fully reconstructed yet. So I protect him here. You say I follow his orders. How quickly did he leave this room and lock the door when I told him to? Don't assume you know a damn thing about us. You don't live here, Pusher. This is Neo's home and mine."  
  
As she finished, they heard a pounding on the door. Morpheus' voice worked it's way through the metal. "Trinity. I saw Neo. Open the door."  
  
Pusher couldn't look Trinity in the eye. She glared at him from about six feet away, looking as if she'd like nothing more than to begin hitting him again, very hard.  
  
"Trinity. I've always loved you."  
  
"I know. And up until the point where you made him bleed, I felt bad about it. But now, I just want you gone."  
  
Morpheus called out again. "Open the door, Trinity."  
  
Trinity moved towards the door, slowly opening it. Morpheus stared at her. "He has to go back to the Deviance as soon as possible. I think I may have broken his arm. He'd be a lot safer if you confined him to quarters. If I see him again, I'm going to hit him. A lot."  
  
Morpheus didn't say anything. Trinity continued. "I'll be in my quarters with Neo. When I think he's okay, we'll come test the new agent. It might not be until tomorrow."  
  
Without waiting for an answer, she walked down the hallway towards Neo.  
  
Morpheus didn't speak for a time. Finally, "I don't understand what you were thinking. I warned you about this. All I know is that you attacked, not only the greatest weapon we have against the machines, but a man who wouldn't know how to start a fist fight if he had to. I am very surprised that Trinity stopped at breaking your arm. I would have thought you'd be unconscious right now, or dead. But that's neither here nor there. Go get Tank to look at your arm. Then go to your quarters and stay there."  
  
As Pusher left, Morpheus closed his eyes. This complicated matters seriously.  
  
*****  
  
Trinity found Neo lying on their bed with his eyes closed. "Are you okay?"  
  
"Well, I suppose that's relative."  
  
Trinity approached the bed, moving to straddle Neo, careful to sit on his hips, rather than his stomach. "Take your shirt off."  
  
"You're just insatiable, aren't you?"  
  
Trinity smiled even as she pulled his shirt up. "You know it."  
  
Once it was off, she pulled back to survey the damage. In addition to the bruise forming under his eye, and, of course, the cut along his cheekbone, Neo had a large bruise forming on his left side. Pusher must have gotten in two vicious punches at the spot. Trinity sucked in a breath and ran her hands along his side. "Do you have a broken rib?"  
  
"I don't think so. I'll be okay."  
  
Trinity looked up into his eyes. "Are you sure?"  
  
"Yeah." A pause. "Where's Pusher?"  
  
"I left him with Morpheus. I broke his arm."  
  
Neo nodded. "I suppose I should be feeling very unmanly right now. What with my girlfriend having to save me and all."  
  
"Well, considering the fact that you've saved your girlfriend's life a couple billion times in the Matrix, I'm fairly sure she owed you one."  
  
"It's a good thing I'm not one of those macho types. I'd much rather sit back and let you do everything."  
  
Trinity raised an eyebrow. "Really?"  
  
"Oh, yeah."  
  
Trinity lowered herself to Neo. "That's interesting."  
  
Moving down the last few inches, Trinity pressed her mouth to Neo's. The kiss deepened until Neo pushed her back. "I never thought I'd say this, but could you get off of me?"  
  
Trinity's eyes darted down to Neo's side. She had put all her weight on him, causing pain to shoot through his body. Laughing, she rolled to her left. Throwing a leg over both of his, she put her head on his shoulder. "I told Morpheus that we probably wouldn't be leaving the room until tomorrow. It gives him some time to deal with Pusher. And it gives us some time to, you know, lie around."  
  
"I'm sorry about all of this. I don't want to come in between you and your friends."  
  
"He's not my friend anymore. I should have seen this coming. I knew how he felt about you. He's always buried his feelings until they exploded at some insignificant thing."  
  
Before Neo could respond, someone knocked on their cabin's door. "Can I come in?"  
  
Trinity rose to open the door for Tank as Neo sat up. "Morpheus wanted me to come check on Neo."  
  
Trinity moved so he could enter. "He's fine, I think."  
  
"Well, that's good. Pusher, on the other hand, has a fractured arm." Trinity sat down beside Neo, and looked at Tank unapologetically.  
  
Tank looked at Neo's bruises. "Damn, that's gotta hurt. I really should do some x-rays. You might have a broken rib."  
  
Neo shook his head. "I really don't think so. I'm fine."  
  
Tank shrugged. "You're call, man. Morpheus wants to see us in the mess hall in an hour."  
  
"I told him we'd go in when I thought Neo was okay."  
  
Tank looked over at Trinity. "It's not about that. I think it has something to do with the Amelia Earhart."  
  
Trinity nodded. "Tell him that I don't want Pusher there."  
  
"I think that's a given."  
  
A/N: Okay. So there's the fight. It feels off, so there may be changes later. Once I got to it, I kept thinking that there wasn't sufficient reason for a fight. But I wanted a fight, by god, and I'm the writer! Anyway, let me know what you think.  
  
Xixie 


	13. You're here to do what exactly!

Pusher's name- Not from X-Files, but as I am an X-Files freak, it could have been subconscious. I do love that episode. Maybe I'll name another character Tooms or the Well-Manicured Hacker.

  
  


Which reminds me of a story, and forgive me, because it's 3:24 AM. I used to volunteer at an animal preserve, where I worked with reptiles. And we always named all the reptiles X-Files names. We had a California corn snake named Walter, and a set of turtles named Byers, Langley, and Frohicke. But my favorite was Cancerman and his brother, the Well-Manicured Salamander. They bit anything in sight: food, sticks, your finger. They were the meanest damn things ever. I just loved them. Anyway, there's your stream-of-consciousness diatribe of the day. Tune in later for a dissertation on why J.K. Rowling is going to kill off Neville and make me cry. 

  
  


***I wrote the above way before Order of the Phoenix came out. Now I just feel justified about everything I've ever said about Neville, whom I love.

  
  


*****Okay. Here's where I explain why you haven't seen any fanfiction from me in a long while. I wrote much of this during finals, when I should have been studying. But, in a grand show of procrastination, decided to extrapolate the lives of Neo and Trinity until the movie came out. (More about the movie later.) Just after finals were over, my mother called to say that my father's lung had collapsed. I immediately went home. 

  
  


He seemed okay, but then turned for the worst. He had to be transferred to a hospital which specialized in heart and lungs. These people were wonderful, but did not believe that Daddy would make it through surgery. He was in ICU for weeks and developed a staph infection. He had three chest tubes and looked very bad. 

  
  


My mother and I slept in the ICU waiting room the entire time he was ill. Luckily, his surgeons were wonderful. He made it through the surgery, and though he has to be on oxygen twenty-four hours a day for the rest of his life, is home and in as good of health as can be expected. In fact, he, my mother, and my aunt (his sister) are at the beach right now. He is fishing and having a great time. 

  
  


I hope everyone understands now why I have been neglecting all my fanfics. I can't promise that I will be updating with anything resembling regularity for a few more weeks. I moved back home for the summer to help my parents out. 

  
  


Classes start on August 19. As soon as I am settled with that I will be getting back to my writing. Until then I appreciate all of you putting up with me. 

  
  


The following chapter is rather short. But I've had half of it written since before Daddy got sick. 

So I thought I owed it to you people to at least get it somewhat done and posted. Review and let me know what you think.

  
  


Xixie

Chapter 13

  
  


To Trust, or Not to Trust 

  
  


"Trinity, we have to go see what it is that Morpheus wants." Neo spoke quietly.

  
  


"Has it been an hour already?" Trinity moved from where she lay against Neo's side. Rising slightly, she turned to see his face more clearly.

  
  


"Something like 45 minutes, really."

  
  


"Well, then. Tell me when it has been 55 minutes."

  
  


"I don't know. What exactly can we possibly do for ten minutes? I don't want to get bored."

  
  


Trinity, careful of Neo's side, leaned down to kiss him. "I love you."

  
  


"I know."

  
  


*****

  
  


Trinity followed Neo into the mess hall just as Morpheus was about to send Tank for them. The two sat before their captain expectantly. 

  
  


Morpheus nodded in recognition before speaking. "I spoke earlier with the Captain of the Amelia Earhart. Captain Femina wanted to inform us of some specific Agent activity in the Matrix. Apparently, Neo's name is being thrown around quite liberally by the system. I have asked her to rendevous with the Neb immediately. I have reason to believe has encountered our new Agent. She is going to help us with our program."

  
  


Turning. "As I was occupied during the earlier . . . drama, I do want to know if we are going to be needing Pusher for code reconstruction any longer."

  
  


Neo was silent and Trinity glowered. "We don't need him. Neo was able to do more in five minutes than Pusher could in five hours. She's fully constructed; we just need to get in and test her."

  
  


"I still want to rendevous with the Amelia Earhart. They are heading towards Zion. We can pass Pusher off to them. He can meet up with the Deviance in dry dock. Femina will still be able to help us, I believe. She and her crew encountered the new Agent. They witnessed her interface with a group of regular Agents. Apparently, they then exhibited strange behavior. In fact, she and her crew were able to defeat one, face to face. Granted it was five to one, but it is better than anyone, other than Neo, has been able to do."

  
  


The crew looked impressed. 

  
  


"It is impressive, however, Femina insists that the female Agent skewed the coding, making the victory possible. It is imperative that we know why the system is creating Agents who make the other Agents more vunerable."

  
  


Neo seemed thoughtful. 

  
  


Morpheus looked at him. "Neo? Is there something you can add?"

  
  


The crew turned to look at him. "Yes. I just don't know what it is yet."

  
  


Trinity placed her hand on her lover's arm. "What does that mean, Neo?"

  
  


He shook his head. "It's in there. I just have to let everything click into place. Maybe after I engage the Agent, I'll have a better idea."

  
  


Trinity furrowed her brow. "Maybe."

  
  


Morpheus spoke. "Well, I suggest that we wait until morning. We will not be meeting with the Amelia Earhart for another 3 days. Tank has already changed course, so I'd like him to take some X-rays of Neo."

  
  


Moving as if to protest, Neo was cut off. "It's an order."

  
  


Nodding, he moved towards the door. Looking down at Trinity, he extended a hand to her. 

  
  


Before she could reach up, Morpheus cut her off. "I'd like to speak to Trinity."

  
  


Neo looked put out but followed Tank. 

  
  


Morpheus sat across from his second in command. Staring at her, he waited for Trinity to speak.

  
  


"I don't know what you want me to say. I apologize for even asking you to bring him here. I had assumed he had grown up."

  
  


"I don't know what to say, Trinity. We'll be transferring him as soon as possible. I do not appreciate attacks on my crew members."

  
  


"If you're leaving that hanging because I followed up his attack with one of my own, that's fine. But I don't feel bad about it."

  
  


"As soon as Tank has checked Neo over, I want that new Agent tested."

  
  


Trinity nodded purposefully. "That's fine. Neo's pretty much rarin' to go anyway."

  
  


Morpheus smirked. "I bet."

  
  


*****

  
  


The Construct coalesced around the trio nearly instantaneously. Tank pulled up the Agent program, waiting only for Neo's word to begin the run. Once he saw that Morpheus and Trinity had moved within five feet of him, Neo signaled to Tank. A beautiful, dark haired woman coalesced in front of the trio. She immediately glanced to her left and right. Reaching down, she pulled the hem of her skirt up, adjusting her garters. 

  
  


Tank entered the command to download the copy of Neo into the presence of the woman.

  
  


Looking at the digital Neo, the woman sighed deeply. "There's no need for these tricks Neo. You can delete this thing and come out from wherever you're cloaking yourself. I'm here to help you."

  
  


Neo looked toward his captain. Morpheus shook his head emphatically. Neo looked into his eyes and nodded. "I could take her. Just stay here. I'm leaving you cloaked."

  
  


Neo stepped out of the parameters of his illusion, into the vision of the new program. "How are you planning to do that?"

  
  


The woman smiled. "Straight to the point I see. Perhaps introductions would be more appropriate at this stage of our relationship, Neo."

  
  


"As far as I can see, we have no relationship."

  
  


"Neo, there's no reason to be rude. My name is RTX4823910.18725349/OPq. You may call me Moira. I have been created and sent by our Resistance to help yours."

  
  


"And what Resistance is that?"

  
  


Again, she smiled. "Humans are a remarkably intricate and unique group of beings, Neo. As we were created by them, don't you think AI has a broad range of individuals also? There has always been a group of machines who do not wish to enslave the human race. We have just recently gained entrance into the Matrix. I have been sent to help you."

  
  


Neo looked at Moira with incredulity. "To help me? That's awfully convenient, and slightly suspect, don't you think?"

  
  


Bubbly laughter answered him. "Yes. Terribly so. In fact, I have no clue how I'm going to obtain your trust. I just know that that is my main objective."

  
  


"Well, you're pretty much screwed then."

  
  


"You must speak to the Elder. You know her as the Oracle. She expects you . . . sometime. I'm sure you'll figure it out. Until then, you and I can get to know one another."

  
  


Neo stared at the program. Pulling out his phone, he addressed Tank. "Take her offline and get me out of here."

  
  


Moira blinked out of existence with a pouty look on her face. Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus all awoke aboard the Neb looking terribly confused.

  
  
  
  


*****The Movie*****

  
  


Well, I hate to say it, but I was kinda disappointed in Reloaded. It just seemed over philosophized and kinda dorky. But then, a friend of mine and I got to talking. He started talking about a friend of his' Matrix theory (come on, we all have one). I wish to God I had thought of it myself. In fact, I'm convinced that given enough time I would have. 

  
  


His friend thinks that none of the Zionites have left the Matrix. That they are in a different program that they think is reality. It explains everything- how Neo stopped the squiddies, how 

Trinity was forced, we assume by fate, to enter the Matrix, even how Neo's dreams were playing on the televisions behind the architect before they were recreated in the Matrix as reality. 

  
  


I'm thoroughly enamored of this idea. So let me know what you think. 

  
  


Xixie


End file.
